# List of playwrights by nationality and year of birth

Dramatists listed in chronological order by country and language:
See also: List of playwrights; List of early-modern British women playwrights; Lists of writers

## Albania

See also: List of Albanian writers
* (1850–1904) Sami Frashëri

## Assyria

See also: List of Assyrian writers
* (born 1965) Rosie Malek-Yonan
* (born 1969) Monica Malek-Yonan

## Australia

* (1799–1873) Henry Melville
* (1813–1868) Charles Harpur
* (1822–1878) William Akhurst
* (1842–1880) Walter Cooper
* (1843–1913) Garnet Walch
* (1843–1908) Alfred Dampier
* (1846–1881) Marcus Clarke
* (1846–1918) Mary Foott
* (1860–1921) Charles Haddon Spurgeon Chambers
* (1862–1938) Edmund Duggan
* (1865–1944) Alex Melrose
* (1867–1905) Guy Boothby
* (1869–1942) George Beeby
* (1873–1953) Dora Wilcox
* (1877–1946) Harry Tighe
* (1878–1943) Louis Esson
* (1865–1935) Carlton Dawe
* (1881–1917) Sumner Locke
* (1884–1946) Walter J. Turner
* (1888–1954) Lionel Shave
* (1894–1918) Adrian Consett Stephen
* (1906–1954) Malcolm Afford
* (1912–1988) Kylie Tennant
* (1916–1999) Morris West
* (1917–2000) Jack Davis
* (1921–2024) Ray Lawler
* (1923–2002) Dorothy Hewett
* (1927–2015) Alan Seymour
* (born 1933) Wendy Richardson
* (born 1941) Kenneth G. Ross
* (born 1942) David Williamson
* (1944–2006) Alex Buzo
* (1948–1997) Roger Bennett
* (1948–2017) Jimmy Chi
* (1950–2003) Nick Enright
* (born 1950) Louis Nowra
* (born 1953) Justin Fleming
* (born 1955) Michael Gow
* (born 1959) Richard Frankland
* (born 1960) Jane Harrison
* (1964–1989) Bill Neskovski
* (born 1969) Wesley Enoch
* (born 1978) Van Badham
* (born 1978) Lally Katz
* (born 1978) Tom Taylor

## Austria

See also: List of German-language playwrights; List of German-language authors; List of Austrian writers
* (1791–1872) Franz Grillparzer
* (1801–1862) Johann Nestroy
* (1814–1874) Friedrich Kaiser
* (1839–1889) Ludwig Anzengruber
* (1863–1934) Hermann Bahr
* (1866–1945) Richard Beer-Hofmann
* (1874–1929) Hugo von Hofmannsthal
* (1874–1936) Karl Kraus
* (1880–1942) Robert Musil
* (1885–1969) Franz Theodor Csokor
* (1886–1980) Oskar Kokoschka
* (1891–1958) Ferdinand Bruckner
* (1895–1959) Arnolt Bronnen
* (1897–1976) Alexander Lernet-Holenia
* (1901–1938) Ödön von Horváth
* (1911–1986) Fritz Hochwälder
* (1921–1988) Erich Fried
* (1941–2005) Wolfgang Bauer
* (born 1942) Peter Handke
* (born 1944) Peter Turrini

## Azerbaijan

See also: List of Azerbaijani dramatists and playwrights
* (1854–1926) Najaf bey Vazirov
* (1865–1927) Sakina Akhundzadeh
* (1870–1930) Abdurrahim bey Hagverdiyev
* (1872–1950) Mammed Said Ordubadi
* (1874–1918) Abbas Sahhat
* (1875–1939) Suleyman Sani Akhundov
* (1879–1945) Huseyngulu Sarabski
* (1882–1941) Huseyn Javid
* (1899–1934) Jafar Jabbarly
* (1910–1981) Rasul Rza
* (1911–1993) Mirza Ibrahimov
* (1913–1981) Nigar Rafibeyli
* (born 1927) Vidadi Babanli
* (1935–2016) Magsud Ibrahimbeyov
* (born 1937) Hamid Arzulu
* (born 1938) Anar Rzayev
* (born 1949) Natig Rasulzadeh
* (born 1957) Afag Masud

## Bangladesh

* (1908–1990) Natyaguru Nurul Momen
* (1925–1971) Munir Chowdhury
* (1942–2008) Abdullah Al Mamun
* (1935–2019) Momtazuddin Ahmed
* (born 1948) Mamunur Rashid
* (1949–2008) Selim Al Deen

## Belarus

* (1880–1948) Peretz Hirschbein
* (1888–1962) H. Leivick

## Belgium

* (1862–1949) Maurice Maeterlinck
* (1885–1970) Fernand Crommelynck
* (1898–1962) Michel de Ghelderode
* (1913–2012) Félicien Marceau
* (1945–1999) Michèle Fabien
* (born 1960) Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt

## Bosnia and Herzegovina

* (born 1955) Zlatko Topčić
* (born 1944) Abdulah Sidran
* (1950–2015) Safet Plakalo
* (born 1962) Nenad Veličković

## Brazil

* (1815–1848) Martins Pena
* (1831–1852) Álvares de Azevedo
* (1839–1908) Machado de Assis
* (1857–1913) Aluísio Azevedo
* (1912–1980) Nelson Rodrigues
* (1923–2012) Millôr Fernandes
* (1927–2014) Ariano Suassuna
* (1931–2009) Augusto Boal
* (1948–1996) Caio Fernando Abreu

## Canada

See also: List of Canadian playwrights; List of Canadian writers; List of Quebec writers; List of French Canadian writers from outside Quebec; List of Canadian plays
* (1893–1975) Merrill Denison
* (1909–1999) Gratien Gélinas
* (1913–1995) Robertson Davies
* (1930–2016) Marcel Dubé
* (born 1953) Louise Bombardier
* (born 1961) Vittorio Rossi
* (born 1964) David Gow

## Czech Republic

See also: List of Czech writers
* (1884–1968) Max Brod
* (1889–1942) Paul Kornfeld
* (1890–1938) Karel Čapek
* (1936–2011) Václav Havel

## Denmark

See also: List of Danish authors
* (1684–1754) Ludvig Holberg
* (1779–1850) Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger
* (1791–1860) Johan Ludvig Heiberg
* (1797–1870) Henrik Hertz
* (1898–1944) Kaj Munk
* (1901–1961) Kjeld Abell

## Dominica

* (1948–2023) Alwin Bully

## Egypt

* (1835–1902) Abu Khalil Qabbani

## France

See also: List of French playwrights; List of French-language authors
* (died c. 1210) Jean Bodel
* (c. 1237–c. 1288) Adam de la Halle
* (c. 1470/80–c. 1538/39) Pierre Gringoire
* (1532–1573) Étienne Jodelle
* (c. 1535–c. 1607) Jean de La Taille
* (1540–1619) Pierre de Larivey
* (1544–1590) Robert Garnier
* (c. 1570–1632) Alexandre Hardy
* (1595–1676) Jean Desmaretz de Saint-Sorlin
* (1601–1667) Georges de Scudéry
* (1604–1686) Jean Mairet
* (1606–1658) Pierre Du Ryer
* (1606–1684) Pierre Corneille
* (1622–1673) Molière
* (1625–1709) Thomas Corneille
* (1635–1688) Philippe Quinault
* (1638–1701) Edme Boursault
* (1639–1699) Jean Racine
* (1640–1723) David-Augustin de Brueys
* (1650–1721) Jean Palaprat
* (1654–1724) Charles Rivière Dufresny
* (1659–1741) Augustin Nadal
* (1661–1725) Florent Carton Dancourt
* (1665–1707) Madame Ulrich
* (1668–1747) Alain-René Lesage
* (1674–1762) Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon
* (1680–1754) Philippe Néricault Destouches
* (1688–1763) Pierre Carlet de Marivaux
* (1692–1754) Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée
* (1694–1778) Voltaire
* (1709–1777) Jean-Baptiste Louis Gresset
* (1713–1784) Denis Diderot
* (1732–1799) Pierre de Beaumarchais
* (1740–1814) Louis-Sébastien Mercier
* (1750–1794) Philippe François Nazaire Fabre d'Églantine
* (1793–1843) Casimir-Jean-François Delavigne
* (1798–1855) Adam Mickiewicz
* (1799–1850) Honoré de Balzac
* (1802–1870) Alexandre Dumas, père
* (1802–1885) Victor Hugo
* (1804–1876) George Sand
* (1805–1882) Henri Auguste Barbier
* (1810–1857) Alfred de Musset
* (1811–1899) Adolphe Philippe d'Ennery
* (1812–1859) Zygmunt Krasiński
* (1815–1888) Eugène Marin Labiche
* (1820–1889) Émile Augier
* (1823–1891) Théodore de Banville
* (1824–1895) Alexandre Dumas, fils
* (1831–1897) Henri Meilhac
* (1834–1908) Ludovic Halévy
* (1837–1899) Henry Becque
* (1840–1897) Alphonse Daudet
* (1842–1908) François Coppée
* (1848–1912) Alexandre Bisson
* (1848–1917) Octave Mirbeau
* (1848–1918) Georges Ohnet
* (1853–1914) Jules Lemaître
* (1854–1928) François de Curel
* (1857–1915) Paul Hervieu
* (1858–1922) Alfred Capus
* (1858–1929) Georges Courteline
* (1858–1932) Eugène Brieux
* (1859–1940) Henri Lavedan
* (1859–1945) Maurice Donnay
* (1861–1949) Lucien Descaves
* (1862–1921) Georges Feydeau
* (1862–1949) Maurice Maeterlinck
* (1866–1947) Tristan Bernard
* (1868–1918) Edmond Rostand
* (1868–1955) Paul Claudel
* (1869–1915) Gaston de Caillavet
* (1869–1955) Émile Fabre
* (1872–1922) Henri Bataille
* (1872–1927) Robert de Flers
* (1873–1907) Alfred Jarry
* (1875–1937) Henri Duvernois
* (1875–1944) Henri Ghéon
* (1876–1953) Henri Bernstein
* (1877–1937) Francis de Croisset
* (1879–1949) Jacques Copeau
* (1880–1918) Guillaume Apollinaire
* (1881–1958) Roger Martin du Gard
* (1882–1941) James Joyce
* (1882–1944) Jean Giraudoux
* (1882–1951) Henri-René Lenormand
* (1882–1962) René Fauchois
* (1884–1973) Alexandre Arnoux
* (1885–1957) Sacha Guitry
* (1885–1970) François Mauriac
* (1886–1970) Fernand Crommelynck
* (1887–1945) Édouard Bourdet
* (1888–1972) Jean-Jacques Bernard
* (1889–1963) Jean Cocteau
* (1889–1973) Gabriel Marcel
* (1890–1974) André Birabeau
* (1892–1975) André Obey
* (1894–1972) Jacques Deval
* (1895–1970) Jean Giono
* (1896–1948) Antonin Artaud
* (1896–1972) Henry de Montherlant
* (1899–1965) Jacques Audiberti
* (1899–1974) Marcel Achard
* (1900–1982) Georges Neveux
* (1900–1998) Julien Green
* (1902–1967) Marcel Aymé
* (1905–1980) Jean-Paul Sartre
* (1906–1989) Samuel Beckett
* (1908–1970) Arthur Adamov
* (1909–1988) Thierry Maulnier
* (1909–1994) Eugène Ionesco
* (1910–1986) Jean Genet
* (1910–1987) Jean Anouilh
* (1912–1998) Félix Morisseau-Leroy
* (1913–1960) Albert Camus
* (1913–2012) Félicien Marceau
* (1914–1996) Marguerite Duras
* (1917–1987) Georges Arnaud
* (1920–2011) Jean Dutourd
* (1924–2017) Armand Gatti
* (1927–1991) François Billetdoux
* (1930–2013) Sławomir Mrożek

## Georgia

See also: List of Georgian writers
* (1802–1869) Alexander Orbeliani
* (1813–1864) Giorgi Eristavi
* (1824–1901) Raphael Eristavi
* (1862–1931) David Kldiashvili
* (1882–1962) Grigol Robakidze
* (1904–1938) Gerzel Baazov
* (born 1977) Lasha Bugadze
* (born 1980) Nestan Kvinikadze

## Germany

See also: List of German-language playwrights; List of German-language authors
* (1616–1664) Andreas Gryphius
* (1700–1766) Johann Christoph Gottsched
* (1724–1803) Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock
* (1729–1781) Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
* (1737–1823) Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg
* (1749–1825) Maler Müller
* (1749–1832) Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
* (1751–1792) Jakob Lenz
* (1752–1806) Johann Anton Leisewitz
* (1752–1831) Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger
* (1759–1805) Friedrich Schiller
* (1759–1814) August Wilhelm Iffland
* (1761–1819) August von Kotzebue
* (1770–1843) Friedrich Hölderlin
* (1774–1829) Amandus Gottfried Adolf Müllner
* (1777–1811) Heinrich von Kleist
* (1788–1857) Baron Joseph von Eichendorff
* (1796–1840) Karl Immermann
* (1801–1836) Christian Dietrich Grabbe
* (1806–1884) Heinrich Laube
* (1811–1878) Karl Ferdinand Gutzkow
* (1813–1837) Georg Büchner
* (1813–1863) Friedrich Hebbel
* (1813–1865) Otto Ludwig
* (1816–1895) Gustav Freytag
* (1839–1911) Martin Greif
* (1862–1946) Gerhart Hauptmann
* (1865–1944) Max Halbe
* (1866–1933) Paul Ernst
* (1870–1938) Ernst Barlach
* (1876–1947) Ernst Hardt
* (1878–1945) Georg Kaiser
* (1882–1961) Leonhard Frank
* (1884–1958) Lion Feuchtwanger
* (1886–1969) Johannes von Guenther
* (1887–1945) Bruno Frank
* (1888–1960) Curt Goetz
* (1889–1942) Paul Kornfeld
* (1890–1940) Walter Hasenclever
* (1894–1959) Hans Henny Jahnn
* (1895–1952) Alfred Neumann
* (1898–1956) Bertolt Brecht
* (1901–1938) Ödön von Horváth
* (1906–1970) Stefan Andres
* (1906–1972) Eberhard Wolfgang Möller
* (1910–1990) Ulrich Becher
* (1916–1991) Wolfgang Hildesheimer
* (1921–1947) Wolfgang Borchert
* (1925–2017) Tankred Dorst
* (1927–2015) Günter Grass
* (1928–2003) Peter Hacks
* (1931–2020) Rolf Hochhuth

## Ghana

* (1912–1998) Félix Morisseau-Leroy
* (1924–1978) Joe de Graft
* (1924–1996) Efua Sutherland
* (1942–2023) Ama Ata Aidoo
* (1946–2018) Asiedu Yirenkyi

## Greece

See also: List of Greek artists
* (c. 525 BC–c. 456 BC) Aeschylus
* (c. 495 BC–c. 406 BC) Sophocles
* (c. 485 BC–c. 406 BC) Euripides
* (c. 448 BC–c. 400 BC) Agathon
* (c. 445 BC–c. 385 BC) Aristophanes
* (c. 343 BC–c. 290 BC) Menander

## Haiti

* (1912–1998) Félix Morisseau-Leroy

## Hungary

See also: List of Hungarian writers
* (1747–1811) György Bessenyei
* (1773–1885) Mihály Csokonai Vitéz
* (1786–1839) Izidor Guzmics
* (1788–1830) Károly Kisfaludy
* (1791–1830) József Katona
* (1800–1855) Mihály Vörösmarty
* (1800–1866) Gergely Czuczor
* (1814–1878) Ede Szigligeti
* (1823–1864) Imre Madách
* (1842–1891) Gergely Csíky
* (1845–1918) Lajos Dóczi
* (1863–1954) Ferenc Herczeg
* (1869–1944) Dezső Szomory
* (1878–1952) Ferenc Molnár
* (1880–1974) Melchior Lengyel
* (1888–1967) Lajos Egri
* (1890–1942) Sándor Hunyady
* (1900–1975) Gyula Háy
* (1901–1938) Ödön von Horváth
* (1901–1975) László Németh
* (1902–1983) Gyula Illyés
* (1912–1979) István Örkény
* (1917–2007) Magda Szabó
* (1927–2006) András Sütő
* (1930–1989) Erzsébet Galgóczi
* (1932–2002) János Nyíri
* (1934–2012) István Csurka
* (1934–2022) György Moldova
* (born 1942) Péter Nádas
* (1943–2010) György Schwajda
* (born 1946) György Spiró
* (born 1950) Miklós Vámos
* (born 1953) Lajos Parti Nagy
* (born 1960) Zsolt Pozsgai

## India

* (1861–1941) Rabindranath Tagore
* (1938–2019) Girish Karnad

## Iran

* (born 1938) Bahram Bayzai
* (1939–2007) Akbar Radi
* (born 1952) Rosie Malek-Yonan
* (born 1954) Monica Malek-Yonan

## Iraq

* (1867–1950) Pîremêrd

## Ireland

See also: List of Irish dramatists; List of writers from Northern Ireland
* (1728–1774) Oliver Goldsmith
* (1735–1812) Isaac Bickerstaffe
* (1784–1862) James Sheridan Knowles
* (c. 1820–1890) Dion Boucicault
* (1852–1932) Lady Gregory
* (1852–1933) George Moore
* (1853–1923) William Boyle
* (1854–1900) Oscar Wilde
* (1856–1950) George Bernard Shaw
* (1859–1923) Edward Martyn
* (1860–1949) Douglas Hyde
* (1865–1939) W. B. Yeats
* (1871–1909) John Millington Synge
* (1873–1956) James Cousins
* (1873–1959) T. C. Murray
* (1874–1949) Tadhg Ó Donnchadha
* (1876–1913) Fred Ryan
* (1877–1963) George Fitzmaurice
* (1878–1916) Thomas MacDonagh
* (1878–1957) Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany Lord Dunsany
* (1880–1964) Seán O'Casey
* (1881–1972) Padraic Colum
* (1882–1941) James Joyce
* (1883–1971) St. John Ervine
* (1886–1958) Lennox Robinson
* (1890–1963) Brinsley MacNamara
* (1899–1978) Micheál MacLíammóir
* (1900–1968) Paul Vincent Carroll
* (1901–1984) Denis Johnston
* (1902–1961) Edward Pakenham, 6th Earl of Longford
* (1906–1989) Samuel Beckett
* (1910–2001) Joseph O'Conor
* (1912–1968) Donagh MacDonagh
* (1923–1964) Brendan Behan
* (1926–2009) Hugh Leonard
* (1928–2002) John B. Keane
* (1929–2015) Brian Friel
* (born 1934) Thomas Kilroy
* (1935–2018) Tom Murphy
* (born 1949) Billy Roche
* (born 1952) Peter Sheridan
* (born 1953) Frank McGuinness
* (born 1964) Marina Carr
* (born 1967) Enda Walsh
* (born 1971) Conor McPherson
* (born 1971) Jimmy Murphy

## Israel

See also: List of Hebrew language playwrights; List of Hebrew language authors
* (1884–1968) Max Brod
* (1900–1973) Avraham Shlonsky
* (1910–1970) Nathan Alterman
* (1924–2005) Ephraim Kishon
* (1926–1998) Nisim Aloni
* (born 1935) Dan Almagor
* (1936–2022) A. B. Yehoshua
* (born 1939) Yehoshua Sobol
* (1943–1999) Hanoch Levin
* (born 1954) Shmuel Hasfari

## Italy

See also: List of Italian writers
* (c. 1230–1306) Jacopone da Todi
* (1261–1329) Albertino Mussato
* (1469–1527) Niccolò Machiavelli
* (1470–1520) Bernardo Dovizio da Bibbiena
* (1474–1533) Ludovico Ariosto
* (1492–1556) Pietro Aretino
* (1492–1573) Donato Giannotti
* (1503–1584) Anton Francesco Grazzini
* (1504–1573) Giambattista Giraldi Cinthio
* (1507–1566) Annibale Caro
* (1508–c. 1568) Ludovico Dolce
* (c. 1525–c. 1586) Giovanni Battista Cini
* (1535–1615) Giambattista Della Porta
* (1538–1612) Gian Battista Guarini
* (1541–1585) Luigi Groto
* (1548–1600) Giordano Bruno
* (1568–1642) Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger
* (1576–1654) Giovan Battista Andreini
* (1675–1755) Francesco Scipione, marchese di Maffei
* (1698–1782) Pietro Metastasio
* (1707–1793) Carlo Goldoni
* (1712–1785) Pietro Chiari
* (1720–1806) Carlo Gozzi
* (1728–1787) Ferdinando Galiani
* (1749–1803) Vittorio Alfieri
* (1754–1828) Vincenzo Monti
* (1776–1834) Giovanni Giraud
* (1778–1827) Ugo Foscolo
* (1785–1873) Alessandro Manzoni
* (1800–1846) Carlo Marenco
* (1816–1882) Paolo Giacometti
* (1822–1889) Paolo Ferrari
* (1830–1881) Pietro Cossa
* (1839–1915) Luigi Capuana
* (1842–1911) Antonio Fogazzaro
* (1847–1906) Giuseppe Giacosa
* (1852–1909) Alfredo Oriani
* (1860–1934) Salvatore Di Giacomo
* (1861–1943) Roberto Bracco
* (1863–1938) Gabriele D'Annunzio
* (1867–1927) Augusto Novelli
* (1867–1936) Luigi Pirandello
* (1874–1934) Dario Niccodemi
* (1876–1944) Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
* (1877–1949) Sem Benelli
* (1878–1960) Massimo Bontempelli
* (1880–1918) Guillaume Apollinaire
* (1880–1947) Luigi Chiarelli
* (1882–1921) Ercole Luigi Morselli
* (1892–1953) Ugo Betti
* (1898–1992) Valentino Bompiani
* (1900–1984) Eduardo De Filippo
* (1907–1954) Vitaliano Brancati
* (1911–1980) Diego Fabbri
* (1911–2007) Gian Carlo Menotti
* (1916–1991) Natalia Ginzburg
* (1922–1975) Pier Paolo Pasolini
* (1926–2016) Dario Fo

## Japan

See also: List of Japanese writers
* (1363–1443) Seami Motokiyo Zeami}
* (1653–1725) Chikamatsu Monzaemon

## Kurdistan

* (1867–1950) Pîremêrd

## Latvia

* (1751–1792) Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz

## Lebanon

* (1933–2017) Jalal Khoury

## Lithuania

* (1882–1957) Antanas Vienuolis
* (1882–1954) Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius
* (1893–1967) Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas
* (1910–1961) Antanas Škėma
* (1930–2011) Justinas Marcinkevičius
* (born 1950) Ričardas Gavelis

## Macedonia

* (1964–1989) Blagoje "Bill" Neskovski

## Mexico

* (born 1973) Conchi León

## Morocco

See also: List of Moroccan writers
* (1938–2009) Abdelkebir Khatibi
* (1938–2016) Tayeb Seddiki
* (born 1953) Abdallah Zrika

## Nepal

See also: List of Nepali writers
* (1903–1981) Balkrishna Sama
* (1909–1959) Laxmi Prasad Devkota
* (born 1945) Abhi Subedi
* (born 1967) Suman Pokhrel

## Netherlands

See also: List of Dutch language writers
* (1454–1507)? Peter van Diest
* (1487–1558) Macropedius
* (1522–1590) Dirck Coornhert
* (1579–1665) Samuel Coster
* (1581–1647) Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft
* (1584–1635) Willem van Nieulandt II
* (1585–1618) Gerbrand Bredero
* (1587–1679) Joost van den Vondel
* (1601–1646) Jan Harmenszoon Krul
* (1612–1667) Jan Vos
* (1629–1681) Lodewijk Meyer
* (1631–1669) Catharina Questiers
* (1639–1672) Joan Blasius
* (1640–1670) Willem Godschalck van Focquenbroch
* (1640–1709) Pieter Nuyts
* (1649–1713) Govert Bidloo
* (1664–1721) Abraham Alewijn
* (1682–1729) Maria de Wilde
* (1683–1756) Pieter Langendijk
* (1688–1727) Hermanus Angelkot Jr.
* (1759–1837) Jan van Walré
* (1854–1938) August Kiehl
* (1864–1924) Herman Heijermans
* (1869–1948) Victor Ido
* (1869–1952) Henriette Roland Holst
* (1871–1964) Jan Fabricius
* (1872–1929) Inte Onsman
* (1878–1942) Rudolf Besier
* (1882–1937) Henri van Wermeskerken
* (1885–1963) Herman Bouber
* (1891–1966) Watse Cuperus
* (1893–1989) Abel Herzberg
* (1896–1962) Maurits Dekker
* (1911–1995) Annie M. G. Schmidt
* (1912–1993) Max Croiset
* (1918–1992) Hans Heyting
* (1927–2010) Harry Mulisch
* (born 1934) Judith Herzberg
* (born 1938) Thea Doelwijt
* (1939–2014) Seth Gaaikema
* (1943–1995) Ischa Meijer
* (1944–2012) Gerrit Komrij
* (born 1946) Adriaan van Dis
* (born 1946) Paul Haenen
* (born 1946) Wim T. Schippers
* (born 1951) Willem Jan Otten
* (born 1952) Alex van Warmerdam
* (born 1952) Vonne van der Meer
* (born 1954) Youp van 't Hek
* (born 1956) Arjan Ederveen
* (born 1971) Arnon Grunberg

## Nigeria

* (born 1934) Wole Soyinka
* (1941–1995) Ken Saro-Wiwa
* (born 1948) Bode Sowande
* (born 1964) Sefi Atta
* (1967–2022) Biyi Bandele

## Norway

See also: List of Norwegian writers
* (1684–1754) Ludvig Holberg
* (1828–1906) Henrik Ibsen
* (1832–1910) Bjornstjerne Bjornson
* (1857–1929) Gunnar Heiberg
* (1889–1962) Helge Krog
* (1902–1943) Nordahl Grieg

## Pakistan

* (1914–1999) Mirza Adeeb
* (1941–2021) Haseena Moin

## Poland

See also: List of Polish language authors
* (1616–1664) Andreas Gryphius
* (1793–1876) Aleksander Fredro
* (1798–1855) Adam Mickiewicz
* (c. 1800–c. 1855) Solomon Ettinger
* (1809–1849) Juliusz Słowacki
* (1811–1899) Abraham Dov Ber Gotlober
* (1812–1859) Zygmunt Krasiński
* (1820–1869) Apollo Korzeniowski
* (1860–1921) Gabriela Zapolska
* (1868–1927) Stanisław Przybyszewski
* (1869–1907) Stanisław Wyspiański
* (1874–1915) Jerzy Żuławski
* (1880–1957) Sholem Asch
* (1885–1939) Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (Witkacy)
* (1904–1969) Witold Gombrowicz
* (1920–2005) Karol Wojtyła (Pope John Paul II)
* (1930–2013) Sławomir Mrożek
* (1938–2017) Janusz Głowacki
* (1989) Weronika Murek

## Portugal

See also: List of Portuguese language authors
* (1465–1536) Gil Vicente
* (1799–1854) João Batista de Almeida Garrett
* (1906–1997) António Gedeão
* (1922–2010) José Saramago

## Romania

See also: List of Romanian playwrights and List of Romanian writers
* (1821–1890) Vasile Alecsandri
* (1840–1908) Abraham Haim Lipke Goldfaden
* (1852–1912) Ion Luca Caragiale
* (1858–1918) Barbu Delavrancea
* (1909–1994) Eugène Ionesco

## Russia

See also: List of Russian language writers
* (c. 1745–1792) Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin
* (1751–1792) Jakob Lenz
* (1752–1831) Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger
* (1795–1829) Aleksandr Sergeyevich Griboyedov
* (1809–1852) Nikolay Vasilyevich Gogol
* (1814–1841) Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov
* (1823–1886) Aleksandr Nikolayevich Ostrovsky
* (1856–1909) Innokenty Fyodorovich Annensky
* (1860–1904) Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
* (1863–1920) S. Anski
* (1868–1936) Maxim Gorky
* (1871–1919) Leonid Nikolayevich Andreyev
* (1880–1921) Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Blok
* (1880–1948) Peretz Hirschbein
* (1888–1962) H. Leivick
* (1891–1940) Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov
* (1893–1930) Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky
* (1894–1941) Isaak Emmanuilovich Babel
* (1895–1963) Vsevolod Vyacheslavovich Ivanov
* (1897–1986) Valentin Petrovich Katayev
* (1899–1994) Leonid Maksimovich Leonov
* (1904–1941) Aleksandr Nikolayevich Afinogenov

## Senegal

* (1912–1998) Félix Morisseau-Leroy

## Serbia

* (1791–1847) Sima Milutinović Sarajlija
* (1793–1830) Georgije Magarašević
* (1806–1956) Jovan Sterija Popović
* (1818–1903) Matija Ban
* (1832–1878) Đura Jakšić
* (1843–1875) Kosta Trifković
* (1847–1908) Milovan Glišić
* (1858–1926) Dragutin Ilić
* (1864–1938) Branislav Nušić
* (1884–1968) Vojislav Jovanović Marambo
* (1886–1974) Velimir Živojinović Massuka
* (1887–1952) Mir-Jam
* (1888–1969) Toma Smiljanić-Bradina
* (1895–1976) Vladimir Velmar-Janković
* (1900–1924) Dušan Vasiljev
* (1924–1989) Mira Trailović
* (1928–2009) Danko Popović
* (1929–2009) Milorad Pavić
* (1930–1992) Borislav Pekić
* (1933–2014) Svetlana Velmar-Janković
* (1938) Gordan Mihić
* (1938) Svetozar Vlajković
* (1940) Filip David
* (1940) Miodrag Novaković
* (1941–1991) Milan Milišić
* (1941) Vida Ognjenović
* (1948) Zorica Jevremović
* (1948) Dušan Kovačević
* (1948–2021) Bratislav Petković
* (1948) Božidar Zečević
* (1950) Stojan Srdić
* (1951–2015) Mladen Dražetin
* (1954) Siniša Kovačević
* (1954) Radoslav Pavlović
* (1959) Branislav Pipović
* (1969) Đorđe Milosavljević
* (1969) Zoran Stefanović
* (1970) Branislava Ilić

## Slovenia

See also: List of Slovenian playwrights
* (1831–1887) Fran Levstik
* (1871–1962) Fran Saleški Finžgar
* (1876–1918) Ivan Cankar
* (1878–1949) Oton Župančič
* (1930–1987) Gregor Strniša
* (born 1948) Drago Jančar

## Spain

See also: List of Spanish language authors
* (c. 1469–1530) Juan del Encina
* (1474–1542) Lucas Fernández
* (1547–1616) Miguel de Cervantes
* (c. 1550–1610) Juan de la Cueva
* (1562–1635) Lope de Vega
* (1569–1631) Guillén de Castro y Bellvís
* (1569–c. 1644) Feliciana Enríquez de Guzmán
* (c. 1574–1644) Antonio Mira de Amescua
* (c. 1575–1648) Tirso de Molina
* (1587–1650) Luis de Belmonte y Bermúdez
* (1596–1661) Álvaro Cubillo de Aragón
* (1600–1681) Pedro Calderón de la Barca
* (1611–1652) Antonio Coello y Ochoa
* (1618–1669) Agustín Moreto y Cabaña
* (1622–1714) Juan Claudio de la Hoz y Mota
* (1625–1687) Juan Bautista Diamante
* (1662–1704) Francisco Antonio Bances y López-Candamo
* (1676–1750) José de Cañizares
* (1731–1794) Ramón de la Cruz
* (1734–1787) Vicente Antonio García de la Huerta
* (1737–1780) Nicolás Fernández de Moratín
* (1760–1828) Leandro Fernández de Moratín
* (1787–1862) Francisco Martínez de la Rosa
* (1793–1861) Antonio Gil y Zárate
* (1796–1873) Manuel Bretón de los Herreros
* (1806–1880) Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch y Martínez
* (1809–1837) Mariano José de Larra y Sánchez de Castro
* (1813–1884) Antonio García Gutiérrez
* (1828–1879) Adelardo López de Ayala y Herrera
* (1832–1916) José Echegaray
* (1834–1903) Gaspar Núñez de Arce
* (1863–1917) Joaquín Dicenta y Benedicto
* (1866–1936) Ramón del Valle-Inclán
* (1866–1943) Carlos Arniches y Barrera
* (1866–1954) Jacinto Benavente
* (1871–1938) Serafín Álvarez Quintero
* (1873–1944) Joaquín Álvarez Quintero
* (1874–1947) Manuel Machado
* (1875–1939) Antonio Machado
* (1877–1958) Jacinto Grau Delgado
* (1879–1946) Eduardo Marquina
* (1881–1936) Pedro Muñoz Seca
* (1881–1947) Gregorio Martínez Sierra
* (1897–1975) Juan Ignacio Luca de Tena
* (1898–1936) Federico García Lorca
* (1899–1967) Edgar Neville
* (1901–1952) Enrique Jardiel Poncela
* (1902–1999) Rafael Alberti
* (1903–1965) Alejandro Casona
* (1903–1996) José López Rubio
* (1905–1977) Miguel Mihura Santos
* (1916–2000) Antonio Buero Vallejo
* (born 1932) Fernando Arrabal
* (1943–2021) Alfonso Vallejo

### Catalonia

See also: List of Catalan-language writers
* (1845–1924) Àngel Guimerà

## Sweden

See also: List of Swedish language writers
* (1849–1912) August Strindberg
* (1883–1931) Hjalmar Bergman
* (1891–1974) Pär Lagerkvist
* (1918–1997) Werner Aspenström
* (1923–1954) Stig Dagerman
* (1928–2007) Lars Forssell
* Ninna Tinsman

## Switzerland

* (1882–1941) James Joyce
* (1886–1980) Oskar Kokoschka
* (1911–1986) Fritz Hochwälder
* (1911–1991) Max Frisch
* (1921–1990) Friedrich Dürrenmatt

## Syria

* (1835–1902) Abu Khalil Qabbani

## Turkey

* (1850–1904) Sami Frashëri
* (1867–1950) Pîremêrd
* (born 1986) Hayati Citaklar

## Ukraine

* (1811–1899) Abraham Dov Ber Gotlober
* (1840–1908) Abraham Haim Lipke Goldfaden
* (1853–1909) Jacob Gordin
* (1871–1913) Lesya Ukrainka
* (born 1971) Eugenia Chuprina

## United Kingdom

See also: List of British playwrights; British playwrights since 1950; List of early-modern British women playwrights

### England

See also: List of English writers
* (c. 1460–1502) Henry Medwall
* (1495–1563) John Bale
* (c. 1497–c. 1585) John Heywood
* (1532–1584) Thomas Norton
* (1535–1577) George Gascoigne
* (c. 1553–1606) John Lyly
* (1558–1592) Robert Greene
* (1558–1594) Thomas Kyd
* (c. 1560–1634) George Chapman
* (1563–1631) Michael Drayton
* (1564–1593) Christopher Marlowe
* (1564–1616) William Shakespeare
* (c. 1570–1641) Thomas Heywood
* (c. 1572–1632) Thomas Dekker
* (1572–1637) Ben Jonson
* (1576–1634) John Marston
* (1579–1625) John Fletcher
* (1580–1627) Thomas Middleton
* (1583–1640) Philip Massinger
* (c. 1585–1616) Francis Beaumont
* (c. 1585–after 1639) John Ford
* (c. 1590–c. 1653) Richard Brome
* (1606–1668) William Davenant
* (1631–1700) John Dryden
* (c. 1635–1691) George Etherege
* (1640–1689) Aphra Behn
* (c. 1640–c. 1703) John Crowne
* (1652–1685) Thomas Otway
* (c. 1653–1692) Nathaniel Lee
* (c. 1667–1723) Susannah Centlivre
* (1670–1729) William Congreve
* (1671–1757) Colley Cibber
* (1672–1719) Joseph Addison
* (c. 1678–1707) George Farquhar
* (1685–1732) John Gay
* (1693–1739) George Lillo
* (c. 1700–1766) William Rufus Chetwood
* (1707–1754) Henry Fielding
* (1717–1779) David Garrick
* (1720–1777) Samuel Foote
* (1728–1774) Oliver Goldsmith
* (1732–1794) George Colman the Elder
* (1732–1811) Richard Cumberland
* (born 1773) Anna Ross
* (1784–1862) James Sheridan Knowles
* (1788–1824) George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (Lord Byron)
* (1792–1847) Richard Brinsley Peake
* (1794–1857) William Thomas Moncrieff
* (1803–1857) Douglas William Jerrold
* (1803–1873) Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
* (before 1810–after 1838) Elizabeth Polack
* (1817–1880) Tom Taylor
* (1812–1889) Robert Browning
* (1814–1884) Charles Reade
* (1836–1911) W. S. Gilbert
* (1843–1916) Henry James
* (1848–1914) Sydney Grundy
* (1851–1929) Henry Arthur Jones
* (1852–1932) Lady Augusta Gregory (Lady Gregory)
* (1853–1931) Hall Caine
* (1859–1927) Jerome K. Jerome
* (1860–1917) Florence Farr
* (1860–1937) Sir James Matthew Barrie
* (1865–1948) Alfred Edward Woodley Mason
* (1865–1959) Laurence Housman
* (1866–1945) Mrs Henry de la Pasture
* (1867–1931) Arnold Bennett
* (1867–1933) John Galsworthy
* (1868–1946) Herbert Swears
* (1869–1909) St. John Emile Clavering Hankin
* (1877–1946) Harley Granville-Barker
* (1878–1942) Rudolph Besier
* (1878–1957) Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany (Lord Dunsany)
* (1878–1967) John Masefield
* (1881–1913) William Stanley Houghton
* (1881–1954) Frederick Lonsdale
* (1882–1937) John Drinkwater
* (1882–1956) A. A. Milne
* (1882–1958) Harold Brighouse
* (1883–1971) St. John Ervine
* (1884–1915) James Elroy Flecker
* (1886–1962) Clifford Bax
* (1886–1980) Oskar Kokoschka
* (1888–1965) Clemence Dane
* (1888–1965) T. S. Eliot
* (1889–1946) John Colton
* (1890–1976) Agatha Christie
* (1893–1951) Ivor Novello
* (1893–1964) Will Scott
* (1894–1984) J. B. Priestley
* (1896–1967) Margaret Kennedy
* (1896–1975) R. C. Sherriff
* (1899–1973) Noël Coward
* (1900–1973) Benn W. Levy
* (1901–1984) Denis Johnston
* (1902–1961) Edward Pakenham, 6th Earl of Longford
* (1904–1986) Christopher Isherwood
* (1904–1991) Graham Greene
* (1907–1973) W. H. Auden
* (1907–2005) Christopher Fry
* (1911–1977) Terence Rattigan
* (1921–1988) Erich Fried
* (1923–2009) John Mortimer
* (1924–1995) Robert Bolt
* (1924–2006) David Campton
* (1924–2009) Royce Ryton
* (1925–1994) Alun Owen
* (1926–1999) Jim Allen
* (1926–2001) Anthony Shaffer
* (1926–2016) Peter Shaffer
* (1927–2017) Ann Jellicoe
* (1927–2019) Peter Nichols
* (1928–1996) Frank Marcus
* (1929–1994) John Osborne
* (1929–1998) Henry Livings
* (1930–2008) Harold Pinter
* (1930–2012) John Arden
* (1933–1967) Joe Orton
* (born 1933) Michael Frayn
* (born 1934) Alan Bennett
* (born 1934) Edward Bond
* (born 1934) Wole Soyinka
* (1936–2008) Simon Gray
* (born 1937) Tom Stoppard
* (1938–2011) Shelagh Delaney
* (born 1939) Alan Ayckbourn
* (1945–2019) Barrie Keeffe
* (born 1942) Howard Brenton
* (born 1947) David Hare
* (born 1957) Sue Lenier
* (1971–1999) Sarah Kane
* (born 1974) Leo Butler

### Scotland

See also: List of Scottish dramatists
* (c. 1490–c. 1555) David Lyndsay
* (1860–1937) J. M. Barrie
* (1888–1951) James Bridie
* (1900–1968) Paul Vincent Carroll
* (1907–1985) Robert McLellan
* (1912–2006) Ena Lamont Stewart
* (1918–1978) Joan Ure
* (born 1951) Peter May

### Wales

See also: List of Welsh writers
* (1893–1951) Ivor Novello
* (1925–1994) Alun Owen
* (1893–1985) Saunders Lewis

## United States

See also: List of playwrights from the United States; List of African-American writers; List of Jewish American playwrights
* (1766–1839) William Dunlap
* (1784–1842) Samuel Woodworth
* (1784–1858) James Nelson Barker
* (1793–1876) John Neal
* (1806–1854) Robert Montgomery Bird
* (1810–1858) Robert Taylor Conrad
* (1819–1870) Anna Cora Mowatt
* (c. 1820–1890) Dion Boucicault
* (1823–1890) George H. Boker
* (1830–1876) George Aiken
* (1837–1920) William Dean Howells
* (1838–1899) Augustin Daly
* (1839–1901) James A. Herne
* (1840–1908) Abraham Haim Lipke Goldfaden
* (1842–1894) Steele MacKaye
* (1842–1908) Bronson Howard
* (1843–1916) Henry James
* (1845–1911) Edward Harrigan
* (1853–1909) Jacob Gordin
* (1853–1931) David Belasco
* (1855–1937) William Gillette
* (1856–1932 or later) Cora Scott Pond Pope
* (1856–1938) Eva Allen Alberti
* (1862–1935) Langdon Mitchell
* (1865–1909) Clyde Fitch
* (1866–1935) George Pierce Baker
* (1866–1944) George Ade
* (1867–1937) Frances Nimmo Greene
* (1869–1910) William Vaughn Moody
* (1872–1949) Mary Lewis Langworthy
* (1874–1938) Zona Gale
* (1874–1956) Owen Davis
* (1874–1965) W. Somerset Maugham
* (1875–1956) Percy MacKaye
* (1876–1948) Susan Glaspell
* (1876–1962) Jules Eckert Goodman
* (1878–1942) George M. Cohan
* (1878–1952) Ferenc Molnár
* (1878–1958) Rachel Crothers
* (1880–1948) Peretz Hirschbein
* (1880–1957) Sholem Asch
* (1881–1972) Padraic Colum
* (1882–1928) Avery Hopwood
* (1882–1961) Leonhard Frank
* (1883–1967) Martin Flavin
* (1885–1940) DuBose Heyward
* (1885–1942) William Alexander Percy
* (1886–1958) Zoë Akins
* (1887–1961) George S. Kaufman
* (1887–1962) Robinson Jeffers
* (1887–1968) Edna Ferber
* (1887–1974) George Kelly
* (1887–1995) George Abbott
* (1888–1953) Eugene O'Neill
* (1888–1959) Maxwell Anderson
* (1888–1962) H. Leivick
* (1888–1965) T. S. Eliot
* (1889–1946) John Colton
* (1889–1954) John L. Balderston
* (1889–1968) Howard Lindsay
* (1890–1980) Marc Connelly
* (1890–1984) Frances Goodrich
* (1891–1939) Sidney Howard
* (1891–1957) Philip Dunning
* (1891–1966) Anne Nichols
* (1892–1950) Edna St. Vincent Millay
* (1892–1966) Elmer Greensfelder
* (1892–1982) Archibald MacLeish
* (1893–1966) Russel Crouse
* (1893–1973) S. N. Behrman
* (1894–1962) E. E. Cummings
* (1894–1964) Ben Hecht
* (1894–1977) John Howard Lawson
* (1894–1981) Paul Green
* (1895–1943) Lorenz Hart
* (1895–1952) Alfred Neumann
* (1895–1956) Charles MacArthur
* (1895–1960) Oscar Hammerstein, II
* (1895–1966) Joseph Fields
* (1896–1949) Philip Barry
* (1896–1960) Edwin Justus Mayer
* (1896–1974) Lawrence Riley
* (1897–1958) F. Hugh Herbert
* (1899–1967) Edgar Neville
* (1899–1980) Elliott Nugent
* (1900–1998) Julien Green
* (1901–1969) Jack Kirkland
* (1901–1984) Denis Johnston
* (1901–1988) Paul Osborn
* (1902–1967) Langston Hughes
* (1902–1967) Joseph Kesselring
* (1903–1987) Clare Boothe
* (1904–1961) Moss Hart
* (1904–1986) Christopher Isherwood
* (1905–1964) Marc Blitzstein
* (1905–1984) Lillian Hellman
* (1906–1963) Clifford Odets
* (1906–1995) Sidney Kingsley
* (1907–1973) W. H. Auden
* (1907–1981) Mary Coyle Chase
* (1908–1981) William Saroyan
* (1909–1981) Ketti Frings
* (1909–1984) Norman Krasna
* (1910–1961) Antanas Škėma
* (1911–1983) Tennessee Williams
* (1911–2004) Jerome Chodorov
* (1911–2007) Gian Carlo Menotti
* (1912–1998) Félix Morisseau-Leroy
* (1912–1999) Garson Kanin
* (1913–1973) William Inge
* (1913–2000) N. Richard Nash
* (1914–2008) William Gibson
* (1915–2005) Arthur Miller
* (1875-1952) Nellie Burget Miller
* (1914–1956) John La Touche
* (1917–1970) William Archibald
* (1917–1967) Carson McCullers
* (1917–2009) Robert Anderson
* (1918–1993) Louis O. Coxe
* (1918–2011) Arthur Laurents
* (1919–1949) Thomas Heggen
* (1922–1999) William Alfred
* (1922–2003) George Axelrod
* (1922–2006) Jay Presson Allen
* (1922–2008) Tad Mosel
* (1923–1981) Paddy Chayefsky
* (1923–1995) Michael V. Gazzo
* (1924–1987) James Baldwin
* (1925–1995) Charles Gordone
* (1925–2015) Frank D. Gilroy
* (1927–1998) James Goldman
* (1927–2018) Neil Simon
* (1928–2016) Edward Albee
* (1928–2019) George Herman
* (born 1929) Jules Feiffer
* (1930–1965) Lorraine Hansberry
* (1930–2020) Bruce Jay Friedman
* (1932–2003) Jack Gelber
* (1934–2014) Imamu Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones)
* (1935–2020) Mart Crowley
* (1937–2021) Arthur Kopit
* (born 1937) Tina Howe
* (born 1938) John Guare
* (born 1938) Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
* (1938–2017) Janusz Głowacki
* (1939–2020) Israel Horovitz
* (1939–2020) Terrence McNally
* (born 1940) Janet Noble
* (1943–1987) Charles Ludlam
* (1943–2017) Sam Shepard
* (born 1945) Mac Wellman
* (born 1947) David Mamet
* (born 1949) Christopher Durang
* (born 1953) Milcha Sanchez-Scott
* (born 1956) Tony Kushner
* (born 1958) Jane Shepard
* (born 1961) CJ Hopkins
* (born 1961) Jon Robin Baitz
* (born 1962) Michael Hollinger
* (born 1962) Kenneth Lonergan
* (born 1965) Tracy Letts
* (born 1965) Laura Pedersen
* (born 1965) Peter Sagal

### Puerto Rico

See also: List of Puerto Rican writers
* (1783–1873) María Bibiana Benítez
* (1876–1944) Luis Lloréns Torres
* (1919–1979) René Marqués
* (born 1936) Luis Rafael Sánchez
* (1944–2004) Pedro Pietri
* (1946–1988) Miguel Piñero
* (born 1955) José Rivera